Lying Bastard 2021

 

There wasn't much drama with this years lying bastard ride. I did not add my usually surprise 15% grade or any other major twist in this years ride. I figured people won't want to deal with any other issues this year. I have tweaked the route over the years to try and make it a little easier and remove any problem road crossings. We no longer go through Perkasie because that means a tough climb to get to Lake Noximixon and had to cross a Rt 313 which always had lots of traffic on it. Here is the route we did which hasn't changed much since last year.

My only concern this year was the condition of the roads. I wasn't sure if any of the roads I was using had gotten destroy as part of the storm that flooded the area a week ago. Some reports on Facebook seem to indicate that we would be okay and we were. There was a little extra sand and debris on Headquarters Rd and the closed bridge at the top of Headquarters Rd was a little harder to cross but we didn't have to make any detours in the route. 

It was a beautiful day for a ride and so we got some good views of the surrounding area after we got to the top of the hill. This route doesn't have any more climbing than a normal Sourlands ride but they are spaced out differently. Instead of some long climbs followed by some flat or downhills this ride is a series of rollers with a lot of annoying little climbs. The route also slowing goes uphill as you go up and down these rollers so there are no breaks or real flat parts where you can rest. 

There is some nice scenery along the way. Because the rest stop is at mile 34 I take a quick break at a boat launch on the south side of the lake where you can get a view of one of the coves in the lake. 

I did get a good turnout for the ride this year. Most of my regulars where there as well as a new guy, Jeff. I always wonder what a person unfamiliar with the Insane Bike Posse is going to think about the group especially since he thought that going on a bike ride called the "Lying Bastard" was a good idea. He fit in well with the group and it is always good to see new people on our rides but we don't have a good record of them coming back. We did have one other bridge out situation to deal with on and we sent the new guy over first because just like Star Trek you always send to the new guy(Ensign Expendable)  on any risky situation because you don't want to harm any of the main characters. 

We did our usual rest stop at the Turkey Hill gas station and convenience store then headed the last 10 miles back to the start. Although we didn't have much traffic for most of the route the first few miles after the rest stop had a lot of traffic so I will see if I can find a different route back next year. 

I was a little concerned about the last down hill (Red Cliff Rd) because it was a steep hill and could be covered with debris but it turned out not to be that bad. Despite the reputation of this ride it is actually always an interesting ride that I enjoy doing so it will be back again next year maybe with a little surprise.